June 11, 2002


MESSIANIC ACTION COMMITTEE UPDATE (excerpts from recent bulletins received from Israel)

FREEDOM BULLETIN ======================

"Legal" Attempts to Silence the Gospel Continue

Last March (2001) we reported another attempt by Ultra-Orthodox member of Knesset (MK) Rabbi Moshe Gafni to introduce legislation which would prevent believers in Yeshua from using "mails, fax, email, or any other means" to share our faith. In December 2001, two other members of the MAC (Messianic Action Committee) and I appeared before the Knesset Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee to argue against the proposed bill. The Committee voted to reject the bill and referred their recommendation to the Knesset for its approval (Praise the Lord!). That recommendation has yet to come to a final vote however.

Now it has come to our attention that the strangest of bedfellows-Gafni and MK Yosef Lapid, a diehard secularist implacably hostile to the Ultra-Orthodox politicians and their religious agenda-have come together in common cause against the freedom of Messianic believers to proclaim their faith. For Lapid, a Holocaust survivor, "missionaries" (as he would label all Messianic believers) are the enemies of the Jewish people who are continuing the extermination efforts of the Nazis by other means. As a result, Lapid has no qualms about disenfranchising Messianic Jews and denying us basic civil rights such as freedom of religion and freedom of expression.

Before the final nail has been driven into Gafni's present bill, he and Lapid have tabled a new proposal, the most far reaching attempt yet to silence the Gospel in the Land. In its preliminary form the bill states: "Anyone who preaches to an individual or to the public, or who attempts to persuade them to change their religion, or who carries out some other action which brings about [another's] change of religion, by any means whatsoever, will be liable to three years imprisonment."

This unlikely alliance of secular and religious Knesset members promises to be a major threat to the Messianic community, posing the best chance yet for the passage of restrictions on our freedom of expression and religion. This is especially so because of Lapid's "democrat and liberal" image and his broad support in the "anti-religious" camp. Thus the current bill might well appear to be not just another religious attack on democratic freedoms but a legitimate attempt to suppress a dangerous "lunatic fringe" and to protect the citizens of our modern secular society from its enticements.

In such circumstances, divine intervention is necessary to protect the powerless and to rally the true supporters of democracy in the Knesset to repel this assault on Israel's democratic foundations. Please join us in praying that the true implications of this bill will be exposed and that Israel's leadership will reject it decisively; that we may continue to proclaim God's salvation in Yeshua the Messiah freely and effectively.

- Noam Hendren (June 11, 2002)

MESSIANIC ACTION COMMITTEE
Paul Liberman, Chairman
Noam Hendren
Charles Kopp
Marvin Kramer, Esq.
Nizar Touma
Daniel Yahav

P. O. Box 5462, Herzliya  46153    Israel
Tel/Fax:  972-9-951-6118      
E-mail: themac@netvision.net.il
Wires:  Bank Leumi, 32 Maskit Street, Herzliya Pituach, Israel
Telephone:  972-9-970-6333, Fax No. 972-9-970-6355
Branch/Account No.: 864-12986      ABA Number = SWIST CODE =LEUMILIT864

See also:

AMFI's Religious Liberty in Israel Update Page

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